Shop tools

[brent a smith]

Gentlemen I'm trying to gather information about the tools required in bow building... I've been a woodworker all my life and after a hunting accident 4yrs ago ( fell climbing down from my treestand with a spinal cord injury as the result) I have a lot of time available today... What tools do you feel are mandatory... which ones do you think are really nice to have... and then which ones are just pure luxury... I plan to start slow as more of a hobby but would not be surprised if I fell in love with bow building and turned to more of a business... Thank you in advance, this is one great site with what I would call true gentlemen hunters making up the membership... If the public could see "hunters" through the membership of the Trad Gang we would havw way fewer antihunting folks... Brent Smith  

[Glunt]

I'm a hobby glass bowyer, I have avoided selling them 'cause that could ruin a good hobby.  That said, some serious unrest at my job may result in an unexpected career change so I'm not ruling out any options on paying the mortgage.

Here's what I use:

Table saw
14" band saw
Cheapo disc/belt sander
Oscillating spindle sander
Air compressor
Drill press
Router (form building)
Hacksaw
4 way rasp
Small round files
Lots of clamps


Next up is a thickness sander for making laminations, but its awful easy to buy them from Kennys Custom Archery, and they are dead-on every time.

[Bowjunkie]

I make laminated glass/wood longbows and recurves as well as selfbows, bows backed with bamboo, wood, sinew, rawhide, etc. Here's the general rundown of tools used off the top of my head... I'm sure if I walked out to the shop, I'd find a bunch of things I forgot.

Laminated bows:
Chain saw - I sometimes cut my own wood for lams.
Sledge and wedges
14" bandsaw
Tablesaw
Jointer
Miter saw
Thickness sander
Adjustable lam grinding platen
Digital Caliper
Bow presses
Hot box
Drill press - which is usually set up as a drum sander
Toothing plane blade - to prep gluing surfaces of riser
C-clamps, pipe clamps, and spring clamps
Farriers rasp, Nicholson #49, and various Double cut and Smooth cut files.
Cloth-backed sandpaper from 60 grit to 240, and 400 grit wet/dry paper
Air compressor and touch up gun for spraying finish

Organic bows:
Chain saw
Sledge and wedges
14" Bandsaw
Drawknife
Spokeshave
Bowyer's Edge
Heat gun
C clamps and pipe clamps
Moisture meter
Cabinet scrapers - curved, gooseneck, and straight
Farriers rasp, Nicholson #49 and #50, various shapes and sizes of doublecut and smooth cut files
Drill press/drum sander
Homemade steam tube
Reflexing cauls
Drying box
Tillering tree
Moisture meter
Cloth-backed sandpaper from 60 grit to 240, and 400 grit wet/dry paper
Air compressor and touch up gun for spraying finish

For bamboo and wood backed bows:
A toothing plane and table saw would be added to the 'organic bow' list. I also use my thickness sander to finish out the wood slats for standard backed bows, and for thicknessing and tapering the wood pieces for tri-lam bows.

Dehumidifier for the shop

[Roy from Pa]

Everything Bowjunkie has, plus a Beer Fridge:)

[Millhimes]

Read the sukuma bow build.Aparentlly u only need a big knife and a match to build a bow!Bowjunkie has it about covered other than a place to put it all.

[George Tsoukalas]

I build selfbows. Jawge
http://georgeandjoni.home.comcast.net/~georgeandjoni/index.html

[Tom Leemans]

I have a
bandsaw
table saw
4 routers
planer
jointer
disc/belt sander
drill press
chop saw
gobs of hand tools,planes,rasps,scrapers
Other home made tools
lets not forget clamps! Lots of clamps
Several jigs and fixtures

[red hill]

I only have a wish list! I'm envious!  

[brent a smith]

Thank you all for taking the time to help me... Good information that helps alot... To the guys who are building bows for a business how are they duplicating risers? CNC or some sort of duplicator, or just good layout and shop built jigs?

[Tom Leemans]

You can duplicate with great accuracy when you spend time getting your templates and jigs right. A shaper is a great tool for busting out a lot of risers. Who else is waiting for 3D printers to become commonplace in the home?  

[Teagus]

Copycarver

[Teagus]

Back view

[Teagus]

[rmorris]

Well now that is super cool!

[Roy from Pa]

That is all real sweet. But I can not see myself doing that. I have a pattern for my BBO Bows for lay out. But after that, it's always a different journey to the end tiller. Wood can drive ya crazy sometimes:)

[brent a smith]

Thanks again gentlemen... Good stuff

[Teagus]

Works really great shaping traditional crossbows  :eek: